40TH Anniversary Celebration of Bike Sundays on Bronx River Parkway - 9/28/14

Come join the 40th anniversary of Bike Sundays on the Bronx River Parkway. Bring your bike, skates, running shoes and celebrate with us.

Sponsoring the Sept. 28 celebration is Westchester Cycle Club, the region’s 1,350-member recreational biking club.

It was 40 years ago that Westchester County Executive Al DelBello closed the parkway for a couple of Sundays to build community support for his plan to purchase the right-of-way of the defunct New York Central Railroad. The cyclists showed up, and the county kept opening the parkway, year after year. The county bought the rail line too, and now we have the North and South County trailways – world-class biking infrastructure, 36 miles to the Putnam line.

Since 2011, Bike Sundays has been funded by the Friends of Westchester County Parks, a nonprofit that raises about $40,000 a year to support the event, which takes place on 12 or 13 Sundays in May, June, and September, with Con Edison the event’s major sponsor.

When the weather’s good, as many as 5,000 people venture out on the parkway for exercise, says Joe Stout, executive director of Friends of Westchester County Parks.

Gather afterward for the tailgate party in the County Center lot. From noon to 4 p.m. listen to music performed by Brown’s Bookends Band and Rauch’s Tall County, a Putnam-based string band.

Bring your grill and cooler filled with salads and beverages to kick back after the ride. There will be food vendors for those who just want to run or bike there.

(Journalism thanks to David McKay Wilson)